What are the odds of a high school female athlete making a pro roster?
Well for every 3,416 US high school basketball players only
1 will end up on an WNBA roster. Here are the odds of going pro for
WNBA basketball and NWSL soccer sports:

3,416 : 1

1,756 : 1

WNBA Basketball

NWSL Soccer

Methodology & Notes:

Basketball

odds

Soccer

odds

High School Players *

433,344

1 : 1

374,564

1 : 1

College Players

27,710

16 : 1

37,760

10 : 1

NCAA I players

5,134

84 : 1

8,998

42 : 1

Pro Players**

144

3,416 : 1

200

1,756 : 1

**Pro
Roster Size

WNBA 2015

NWSL 2015

Number of teams

12

10

Roster limit

12

20

Total

144

200

% of non-US
players

22.9%

20.0%

Estimated Average
Career length

3.5

3.0

* High school data is from the 2013-14 High School Athletics Participation
Survey conducted by the National Federation of State High School
Associations.1

** Odds of a randomly selected high school athlete going pro are adjusted by the percentage
of international players and the average pro career length for each sport.
This is necessary to make a valid comparison with the base data of
4 years of US high school athletes.

Many foreign student
athletes compete on U.S. college varsity teams and may not be reflected
as US high school participants. This factor may result in computed
participation percentages for many sports that are artificially high.
Here is a summary of foreign student (non-resident alien) participation
on NCAA I varsity teams per the NCAA
2013-14 Race & Gender Demographics Database: